Governor

Gov. Jerry Brown and top lawmakers have reached agreement on some of the most contentious issues in the state budget, granting the governor significant victories on the redistribution of school money and expectations of revenue. Join us at 9 a.m. as we discuss the latest negotiations between the governor and lawmakers in Sacramento with Times reporter Chris Megerian. The budget plan would increase funding for schools across the board and send extra money to districts with large numbers of poor students and English learners -- a key goal for Brown.

Vermont is on track to become the fourth state to allow severely ill patients to end their lives under medical supervision. The state's House of Representatives voted 75 to 65 on Monday night to approve the “Patient Choice at End of Life” measure. The legislation, passed by the Senate in February, now goes to Gov. Peter Shumlin, who said he would sign it. If he does, it will make Vermont the first state to approve such a measure through state lawmakers. Oregon and Washington enacted their laws through a referendum, and a Montana Supreme Court decision made it legal in that state.

When we were classmates at Ingraham High School in Seattle, Jay Inslee was quarterback of the football team and a key player on the state champion basketball squad. I was a fledgling cartoonist and editorial writer on the student newspaper. On Wednesday afternoon, as I watched Inslee shoot hoops with his buddies under the new backboard he had just put up on his garage, it struck me that some things have not changed. It was still basketballs for him, cartoons for me. But, in truth, the change is rather dramatic.

MEXICO CITY -- Andres Granier, the former governor of the Mexican state of Tabasco who was recently caught on tape boasting that he owned 300 suits and 400 pairs of shoes, was arrested Tuesday evening by federal authorities on suspicion of tax fraud and “operating with illicit proceeds.” Granier, 65, has taken center stage in Mexican politics in recent weeks after tapes surfaced of him talking about his lavish lifestyle -- boasts that he...

SACRAMENTO - Senate leader Darrell Steinberg says he has seen enough. He wants to rid California of incessant special elections to fill vacancies in the Legislature. The elections interrupt the legislative process, he asserts, and they bleed local taxpayers - roughly $1 million each time some lawmaker jumps ship, which has been increasingly often. Let the governor fill vacant seats and be done with it, the Sacramento Democrat contends. Amen. If it were possible, I'd order lawmakers to stop the music, grab a seat and stay put. This musical chairs game is too expensive for the adults, the taxpayers.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, seeking to conquer what could be the last budget crisis of his tenure, is engaged in a high-stakes negotiating strategy with lawmakers that could force him to preside over a meltdown of state government. As legislators have scrambled to stop the state from postponing payment of its bills and issuing IOUs starting next week, the governor has vowed to veto any measure that fails to close the state's entire $24-billion deficit.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced Monday that he would step down at the end of his current term, a move that will end his reign as the longest-serving chief executive in state history even as he left open the possibility of another run for president in 2016. Quoting from the Book of Ecclesiastes, Perry said there was a time for everything in life and, for him, "the time has come to pass on the mantle of leadership. " Perry's decision, which was not unexpected, ensures the biggest shakeup in Texas politics in well over a decade, though the fresh faces are likely to be Republican and not Democratic.

Last time we saw the Governor (his cameo last week excluded) he was gunning down his own people and driving off to parts unknown. Now? It's all fist bumps and pinkie swears. After existing off-screen as a boogieman for most of the season, the Governor made his return in Sunday's episode, "Live Bait. " While a big piece of what he's been up to was filled in, we still don't know exactly how he ended up lurking outside the walls of Rick's prison at the end of last week. There's more to this story, surely, and it's not going to be pleasant.

SACRAMENTO - Let's welcome the governor back home. It must be sobering. The work has been piling up. The real, difficult work. Actually, it was piling up even before Gov. Jerry Brown departed on a weeklong "trade and investment" mission to China with 90 lobbyists, business execs and pals - who kicked in enough extra money to pay for him and his aides. As I previously wrote, if this was really worth the governor's time and energy - if the state actually did benefit, and it probably did - then the state should have paid for it, not a horde of favor-seeking special interests.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday praised the selection of U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano as president of the University of California system, saying she has the "fresh," outside perspective to lead the universities into a new era. "She's detail oriented," Brown said in an interview Friday evening. "She has an open mind.' The Times reported Friday that Napolitano, who also served as a former governor of Arizona, was selected by a committee of UC regents to become the first woman to head the 10-campus system.